Ryan Reynolds Says Wesley Snipes’ Blade Paved the Way for MCU: ‘He Is Marvel Daddy’

Ryan Reynolds wants Marvel fans to recognize Wesley Snipes' importance to the history of comic book movies.

On Monday, Aug. 5, Reynolds, 47, shared several images of him with Snipes, 62, on the set of Deadpool & Wolverine to Instagram while shouting out Snipes' impactful work as the character Blade, which dates back to 1998's original Blade movie.

"There is no Fox Marvel Universe or MCU without Blade first creating a market," Reynolds wrote in his caption. "He is Marvel Daddy. Please share for a Logan-like send off."

Snipes appears in Deadpool & Wolverine among a group of surprise cameos from actors — including Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum and Dafne Keen — who portrayed Marvel characters for films made by New Line Cinemas and 21st Century Fox before Disney and Marvel Studios obtained the rights to include them in their own films in recent years.

Snipes' original Blade movie was one of the first Marvel comic book characters adapted into film, and his trilogy helped the genre at the turn of the millennium. Snipes had not played the part since 2004's Blade: Trinity.

"Wesley’s return as Blade was a very early idea of Ryan’s," Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine's director, told Variety while speaking to how they decided which characters to bring back for the third Deadpool movie.

Reynolds previously worked with Snipes on Blade: Trinity, in which he portrayed a character named Hannibal King. Levy, 56, added that Reynolds felt Snipes' version of Blade never received a satisfying ending.

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"Wesley has not played Blade in a long time. He and Ryan have not been in close touch in a very long time," Levy told the outlet. "But we made clear to Wesley that this was not going for a joke. This was out of reverence for his legacy as this iconic character."

Snipes' return to the role comes as Marvel Studios is working on a film reboot of Blade scheduled to come out Nov. 7, 2025.

Mahershala Ali is expected to star in the film, though the long-gestating project lost its director Yann Demange when he left the film in June, as multiple outlets reported at the time.

Deadpool & Wolverine gave Snipes a one-line joke in which he declares "there will only ever be one Blade," seemingly a reference to Ali's still in-the-works Blade. "That was a scripted line, and Wesley thought it was hysterical," Levy told Variety.